It’s a given in Amp’d Mobile Supercross that just when you think
it’s going to be RC vs. Stewart, Chad Reed wins. Reed had been in a dry
spell for the first third of the AMA series, but at St. Louis he rode
hard when Stewart and Carmichael had problems. Not only did he score
the win, but he’s now the points leader, too.
After the press conference, we asked Reed about his
turnaround, the ongoing track debate, and those cranky readers on
internet message boards who were giving him grief.

Moments after winning the main in St Louis, Reed shows the crowd the weight coming off his shoulders

Racer X: Chad, congratulations! You got that first win of the season.Chad Reed: Man, that was a tough one. The most frustrating thing is
when you know you can win and you’re just not getting it done. I just
feel a whole lot of weight off my shoulders, and hopefully we can move
on forward and keep the battle going.

You said in the press conference that this might have been the most important win of your career. Why is that?
I had so much pressure on myself; not from anybody but me. I knew I
could win. The team knew I could win. Everybody around me knew I could
win. I'm the guy who was letting those guys down. It’s nice to get it
out of the way, and we can take another step forward.

Just one last question on this Tedesco thing: You guys had words
last week after that heat race, but at the press conference everything
seemed cool. Do you guys stop and talk about these things, or at some
point are they just forgotten?
At a certain point, we are human before we are racers. I think a lot of
people, including Ivan, took the whole “chump” thing different from how
I expressed it. Everyone has their own way of looking at it. I respect
that. I just said to Ivan, “Hey, I said it, and it wasn’t meant to be
the way you took it.” I think it’s just a respect thing. He felt that I
was disrespecting him, and it was not that at all. Ivan is a great guy.
I was on his team at Yamaha of Troy, and he wasn’t a podium guy that
year, and I have seen him grow to where he is now. I applaud that and
have a lot of respect for him. Hopefully, we can move forward and
battle like we did this weekend in the heat race. It was clean. I
didn’t have to watch my back and he didn’t have to watch his back.
That’s racing. You can be aggressive, but I don’t like to take it past
that level.

Reed,
in between a fast-improving Tedesco and a hard-charging Stewart. Two
turns after this, Stewart would be on the ground and Reed and Tedesco
would be fighting for the lead.

After you left San Diego, what was your game plan? What did you do?
To leave the West in the West and move forward [laughs]! Sunday I flew
to Florida. Monday I was riding. I completely changed my tracks. I need
to learn a different style of riding. I have learned to be technical
and learned to ride the way I was taught, which was technical, big
whoops, and attack the track. I think I have to do it a little
different these days.

What’s really changed on the tracks?
Obviously, it’s the smaller whoops. The tracks are a little more
flowing, and different shapes. It’s not anyone’s fault. They're trying
to improve racing. Sometimes it's at our expense. You can’t hate
someone because they are trying to improve it. At this point, I need to
move forward and accept that the tracks are not going to get any
different and not going to get any harder. When I say that, now I think
the track this weekend was really pretty gnarly. I thought it was going
to be pretty mellow for the first East race, but they really lipped
things up. They made the whoops ... well, they built them back up after
the heat race. One was smaller than the other and it bit Ricky. I
almost did it. A couple of guys did it. I was thinking, Don’t everybody
crash, because they finally built some nice whoops and everyone is
crashing. That’s not what we want! I think it was just the way they
built it.

When Chad wins, they win, too

Do you have any comments for the people online who have been giving you a hard time?
I guess the people online share the frustration that I'm feeling. If
you're a Chad Reed fan and on the bandwagon and talking smack to the
other guys, saying I am going to win, and then I'm not doing it, I'm
sure they feel like they're getting beat down, so they want to beat me
down. It’s fun. I think Motonews is a good time. It’s somewhere for
motorcycle fans from around the world to express what they want to say
and have some fun. I've learned to have fun with it. I kind of made a
comment on the loudspeaker to give those guys something to talk about.
It’s all in fun.

What was that?
I said something like, “To give those fools online something to talk
about.” I would imagine they're tearing me up right now [laughs].

The site probably crashed over it.
I love those guys over there. Those guys, even the one guy who beats me
up a lot, he got a picture with my wife, and that was fun. It’s all a
good time.

So are you going to win as many as Ricky and James do for the rest of the season?
Hopefully, and then some. I was the guy who pulled through tonight and
capitalized on their mistakes. As frustrating as my season has been,
it’s been second, second, second, a third, a fifth, and a win. We're
not looking so bad. I'm going to work on some things, and there is
always room to grow. It feels like a lot of weight off my shoulders.
I'm not content, but I am pleased to get one win.

Is this a contest to see who makes the least mistakes?
When there is a battle between three guys who are unbelievably fast at
any given time, and can win at any given time, and that can grenade
themselves at any given time, I think you have to be that guy who is
there every weekend. Everyone talks about strengths and weaknesses, but
it will come down to the guy who can be there every weekend, and
hopefully, that's going to be me. We worked hard for it and built a
good package to win the title. We're going to give it everything that
we have.